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I had an experience today that bears telling. I was sitting in my Dr's waiting room a few minutes early for an appointment.
I had ridden my bike and was wearing a Joe Rocket jacket along with an Olympia reflective safety vest (the bright green one)
An elderly lady got up from across the waiting room and with obvious difficulty walked over to me and said, "Sir, it's obvious to me that you ride a motorcycle and I want to thank you for wearing the reflective clothing that you have on. Most of us older folks have a difficult time seeing motorcycles on the road and what you are wearing makes all the difference in the world to us. I just couldn't live with myself if I were to ever pull out in front of you or any other motorcyclist because I didn't see you quickly enough and cause you to get hurt. Please tell all your riding friends to please, please do the same".


So I'm telling all my friends.


Wayne

Didn't you tell her why you were in the waiting room?, didn't you show her the tyre marks across the back of your safety vest?

snowprick wrote:Didn't you tell her why you were in the waiting room?, didn't you show her the tyre marks across the back of your safety vest?

Good one!

Dang. Good advice, but pretty scary that she defaults to the idea that we should wear reflective gear instead of thinking maybe she (and others) shouldn't be operating a 3000+ lb projectile if they don't see very well. It must be just as difficult to see pedestrians and cyclists.

That's the reality of our country. We have an aging population and eyesight is one of the first to go. I deal daily with those issues with my own Mom. She is 80 and I have replaced every light on each corner of her car these past two years. Parking lot fender benders mostly. But the privilege to drive is a pretty important one to all of us and it does not lessen as we get older. We all want and need to be independent and so does our aging parents. We can only hope the State Motor Vehicle Depts do the responsible things (which sometimes we have to initiate)

In the meantime I am learning more and more to ride defensively.

Ride like your INVISIBLE!
It's the way to ride in St. Petersburg (a.k.a. "God's Waiting Room")

MODERATORS.
Time to go to work!!!